Google’s answer to Apple’s Game Center may be just around the corner

Android Police have discovered clues alluding to a multiplayer game service.

With plenty of popular game titles making their way over to Android en masse, it's no surprise that Google may be working on its own socially driven multiplayer gaming network. In a recent teardown of My Glass (the Google Glass companion application), Android Police discovered what appears to be a feature list related to a service that could become Google’s answer to Apple's Game Center.

The package apparently contains backend code for an integrated multiplayer gaming service, though there's no interface currently available. The teardown reveals a separate “games” folder with a wealth of files of interest, including ones that hint at the ability to play turn-based multiplayer games, correspond with other users within an in-game chat module, and rack up achievements. Players may also have access to leaderboards, invitations from other users wanting to play, and lobbies for games where users can virtually congregate before a game begins to talk strategy or wait for another player.

Though the leak of the games service was discovered in an app related to the forthcoming Google Glass, Android Police notes that the service probably isn't connected to Glass since the device can’t run complex applications like those featured on Android. The post also mentions that Google usually packages its Google Play Services as one entity. So with all of the components that make up Google services—like account credentials, purchases, and Google+ integration—the developer usually picks only what's relevant to the application. It's possible that the Glass team may have accidentally packaged up all of the Google Play services into the application.

It should be noted that there's no official or otherwise alleged name for this service to go by, but Android Police believes it may be nearly finished. We’re expecting that Google could announce its new multiplayer gaming service, among other things, at Google I/O next month in San Francisco.

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.